Sermon C: 2 S Lent: Philip 3:21

The second Sunday of Lent for 2007 is on March 4. The three assigned readings from the revised Lutheran lectionary are Jeremiah 26:8-15 (Jeremiah deserves to die!); Philippians 3:17-4:1 (Citizenship in heaven) and Luke 13:31-35 (Concern over Jerusalem). The verse chosen to preach about is Philippians 3:21, "who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body..."

For those unaware of the Christian faith, it appears to be a contradiction that while we realize ourselves to be sinners deserving nothing but temporal and eternal punishment, God declares us to be holy sinless saints. This is not a contradiction but a paradox. In fact, most of the Christian faith consists of paradoxical statements which are defined as apparent contradictions until one examines the proper distinctions that need to be made.

For example, is Jesus God or man? Answer: yes. Is God three persons or one God? Answer: yes. When we receive the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper do we receive bread and wine or body and blood? Answer: yes. The Christian sits upon the horse of paradox holding two apparent contradictory views at the same time without falling into the ditch of left extreme or right extreme.

So also our text from Philippians which reveals another paradox. While God on the one hand regards and declares us as sinless saints, we know ourselves to be unworthy sinners deserving of eternal damnation. The world simply cannot fathom that notion because either you are good or you are bad. Because every world religion encourages goodness in order to placate its god(s), the idea that a bad person can be saved is literally nonsense.

However as one funeral prayer so well says it, those asleep in Christ are in joy in regard to their spirits and in hope in regard to their bodies. For we who have been redeemed by Christ the Crucified, have as yet not received all the effects of that death for us. At the moment of our conversion--either as infant by the waters of baptism or as adult--we are TOTALLY saved. There is nothing more that God needs to do for you to get you MORE saved.

However, though we are totally saved, we have not totally received all the benefits of the cross. Philippians 3 reminds us that our bodies continue to suffer from the ravages of sin and not until the Day of Judgment will they also be conformed to the glorious body of our Savior Jesus Christ.

An analogy that might be helpful is to consider how an adopted child is FULLY the child of his parents regardless of his behavior or attitude. However, though he is fully a child of his parents, he has not fully received the inheritance that will be his. The only difference is that on earth the parents need to die for the child to receive the inheritance whereas in the Christian Church, we have to die in order that the final benefit of Christ's death and resurrection becomes ours; namely, the glorious body that is both immortal and without sin.

Read more ...

Sermon C: 1 S Lent: Rom 10:9

The first Sunday after Ash Wednesday, February 28, 2007, is referred to as the 1st Sunday in Lent. The three readings assigned for that day are Deuteronomy 26:1-11 (Brought out of Egypt), Romans 10:8b-13 (Who will be saved) and Luke 4:1-13 (Tempted in the wilderness). Romans 10:9 reads "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

This is probably one of the most misunderstood verses in the entire Bible. For millions of Christians use this verse to direct unbelievers to what they "need" to do in order to be saved. To put it bluntly, this verse is understood as a command rather than the promise it truly is. The verse is NOT meant for unbelievers in the sense of what they are to do to make sure they are saved. In that context the verse is seen as conditional. If the unbeliever would only confess with his mouth and believe in his heart, then he will be saved. But salvation is uncondtional.

Instead, this verse is a promise to believers who are doubting their salvation. For most of them who so doubt, you can ask the questions as to whether they believe that Jesus is Lord and whether they confess that faith with their mouth. If they respond in the affirmative, then they truly are believers. It is a verse to provide assurance for most believers. But certainly not for all for the mute among us would find no comfort in the requirement about confessing with the mouth. For the mute, one would point to baptism and the promises connected to that holy action of God Himself at work.

The verse cannot be "Gospel" for unbelievers because if understood as a command it requires that which is impossible for them to achieve. It is only "Gospel" for those who are already believers having received that spiritual heart transplant of which David speaks in Psalm 51, "Create in me a clean heart O God." Then what is to be said to the unbeliever?

First, the Law is to be spoken in order that the unbeliever might become aware of his sin-filled condition before God. Once the Law has done its work in convicting of sin, then it is time for the Gospel. And the Gospel is not what an unbeliever is to do in order to be saved. The Gospel is instead the life, work, sufferings, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promises of the benefits we receive because of Him! The Gospel can never be about doing something but instead it is about believing something and specifically the promises connected to the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf.

Romans 10:8b makes clear that the word in "your heart" can only be referring to believers who are being assured of having been saved because of the confession they make and the faith they have in the heart. For unbelievers, no such promise can be given. Instead, first the Law is proclaimed; then, the Gospel is preached so that the Holy Spirit may create the faith needed to receive the benefits of salvation won for us by Jesus Christ without any help from us.

Read more ...

Sermon C: Transfig: Lk 9:35

For the year 2007, Transfiguration Sunday occurs on February 18, 2007. The three assigned lectionary readings are Deuteronomy 34:1-12 (Death of Moses); Hebrews 3:1-6 (Christ better than Moses) and Luke 9:28-36 (the Transfiguration). Chosen to preach on is Luke 9:35 in which God the Father speaks from the cloud, "This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!"

If you were asked to choose the worst preacher in the world, whose name would you suggest? Some suggest Jonah or Noah or another preacher since the time of the Bible including our day. My choice? The name Jesus Christ comes to mind. "What! How can you say such a thing?" It depends. Think about it. From the world's point of view, take a look at His record.

First time He preaches at his hometown of Nazareth, the congregation wants to throw Him off a cliff. He had to chastise His own mother, brothers and sisters for their refusal to regard Him as the Messiah. His 12 disciples deserted Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, one betrayed Him and another denied Him three times. The ruling religious leaders so hated Him that they crucified Him.

Yet we do not look at anything from our point of view. We look instead to God's Word and how He looks at things. Verse 35 of Luke, chapter 6, has the Father saying about His Son, "This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!" Why hear Him if He was such a failure as a preacher? But while the world may regard Him as a failure, in the scheme of things He certainly was not.

For the successful witness to God's Word is not the one who has increasing numbers in the congregation or plenty of wealth. Instead, Christ was the most successful of preachers because He fulfilled the mission upon which He was sent. He steadfastly preached the Word of God in its purity regardless of the consequences. While Pentecost may have converted more people in one day than Jesus did in His earthly lifetime, Jesus' death and resurrection became the foundation for our salvation.

The Law directed to each of us is not to measure the success of a preacher or a congregation or a Christian by the results (works). Instead, the Church of God is found where the Word of God is preached in its purity and the sacraments administered rightly. For our faith is in Jesus Who died so that we will never really die and Who lives so that we live eternally, is preparing an eternal home when we also will share in His glory. The only difference is that His glory is radiant while ours is reflected.

Read more ...

Sermon C: 6 S Epiph: Luke 6:20

This coming Sunday, February 11, 2007 is the 6th Sunday after the Epiphany with the three readings being Jeremiah 17:5-8 (Cursed and Blessed); 1 Corinthians 15:1-20 (Resurrection from the dead) and Luke 6:17-26 (Sermon on the Plain). Luke 6:20 is the text to examine which reads, "Blessed are you poor for yours is the kingdom of God."

What a great stewardship sermon for pastors who need to raise a lot of money. The text is clear. The poorer you are; the more blessed you are. The more wealthy you are, the less blest you are. Thus, to get more blessings, you need to get rid of your wealth and it just so happens that there is a fund drive at the church that will be glad to get you more blessed by becoming more poor.

Another angle to get their attention is to give them the woes. For Jesus points the woes to those who are NOT hungry; who ARE laughing, who do NOT mourn and who have people speak WELL of them. Now who in the congregation does that not fit? Then what is the "Gospel" or good news to those woes. Blessed are you if you are poor, hungry, weeping and ostracized. Talk about a reversal in commonsense theology!

And that is just the point. For in light of the similar set of beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5, it is not just being poor but being poor in spirit. What is the difference? These beatitudes are theological in nature and thus point to the proper attitude needed on the part of the believer not in relationship to the temporal realm but to the spiritual realm. The poverty spoken of is best understood in this verse, "Nothing in my hands I bring; Simply to the cross I cling."

The Luke 18 parable of the Pharisee and publican clarifies these woes. For the Pharisee thought he was being blessed by God because he was rich, not hungry, laughing at the sinners and loving men to speak well of him. That attitude is simply another understanding of self-righteousness.

Those who are truly blessed have been hammered with the law of God to demonstrate their poverty in having nothing to give to God to offset their sins, their hungering and thirsting after righteousness, their weeping in repentance over their sins and being persecuted because of their faithfulness to Jesus Christ. It is those who cry out that they are poor, miserable sinners deserving nothing but temporal and eternal punishment who are truly blessed rather than those who thank God that they are not like other men when in reality they are just as fallen in their sinfulness as all other men! Thus, the truly poor in spirit may be found in someone who is poor in the temporal sense (Lazarus in the Dives parable) or rich in the temporal sense (Abraham and Joseph of Arimathea).

The true Gospel is found in the text in which Christ is the healer from not just physical but even demonic problems the largest being conceived and born into the kingdom of Satan and then released from that bondage in the waters of baptism. As Jeremiah 17 points out, the curses and blessings are not on the basis of lack of works or plenty of works; instead, they are on the basis of whether one's faith is in man or in the Lord!

Read more ...